Oak Ridge student brings BB gun to school, arrested

Friday

Dec 6, 2013 at 11:49 AM

Oak Ridge police have charged a Robertsville Middle School student with carrying a weapon on school property and the 13-year-old also faces charges of aggravated assault, after allegedly bringing a broken BB pistol to school.

Beverly Majors/The Oak Ridger

Oak Ridge police have charged a Robertsville Middle School student with carrying a weapon on school property and the 13-year-old also faces charges of aggravated assault, after allegedly bringing a broken BB pistol to school.Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi stated in a Friday morning news release that officers were called to the middle school a few minutes before 9 a.m. Thursday — after receiving information “regarding a student armed with a handgun.”“At least five officers responded to the scene,” the chief’s release stated. At 9:05 a.m., officers located the student — who, as of midday Friday, had been identified only as a 13-year-old boy — and detained him. Akagi said the investigation is continuing and he couldn’t release additional information regarding the young suspect.Officers reportedly found a BB pistol (similar in appearance to a Colt Model 1911 .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol) in the student’s backpack, which was contained in his locker. The student was arrested on a Juvenile Court petition.“The Oak Ridge police and the administrative staff did a great job,” Oak Ridge School Superintendent Bruce Borchers told The Oak Ridger on Friday morning, responding to a call made by the newspaper.Borchers said another student alerted school staff after he saw the gun on a school bus. The student told the staff he didn’t know if the gun was real. The school chief said the BB gun “was broken,” but Akagi couldn’t confirm that information when he responded to a call from the paper. The police chief said officers took the weapon and it is now in “an evidence locker.”Borchers said he was told the student made no comments or threats toward “anyone,” including himself.He said Robertsville Middle School students’ parents weren’t contacted about the arrest, but Borchers said he would review the incident to see if “we should have” contacted them.“We always look at balances and ways of sharing information,” Borchers explained to The Oak Ridger.Borchers said he couldn’t, under school policy, release specific information about the student or possible punishment, but said the schools follow Policy & Procedure when “a student makes a bad decision.”He said typically, as “policy and practice, a student would be recommended for expulsion for a calendar year.”Beverly Majors can be contacted at (865) 220-5514.